Safety device for lap-machines.



A W. BELL.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR LAP MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22, 1912.

W itm$aw 1 J C. V 2 $2 0 Patented Mar. 25, 1913.

anon W110.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW W. BELL, OF- HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO JOSEPH-D. BELL AND ONE IHIRD TO WILLIAM A. BELL, BOTH OF HOLYOKE, MAS- SACHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR LAP-MACHINES.

Patented Mar. 25, 1913.

Application filed August 22, 1912. Serial No. 716,353.

to close or guard the entrance to the place of danger to the operator, practically from the time the lap-spool is lowered into operative position and before the machine is or can be started until the time said spool with the la wound thereon is raised to its highest polnt and after the machine is stopped, as hereinafter set forth.

In machines of the class above-noted, the operator is \quite liable to insert her hand behind the lap spool for the purpose of connecting the lap, with the result that it,pot unfrequently occurs. that the fingers and sometimes the whole nd are draw. etween the back lap drum and said spoo grid seriously injured. Although the operator should never introduce her hand into the.

place of danger just referred to while the machine is in operation, it all too frequently occurs that she disregards the danger and suffers the consequence.

The object, therefore, of my invention, is to introduce into the machine a simple but effectual guard by which it is impossible for the operator to injure her hand while the machine is in operation, because at such time the entrance to the rear of the lap spool and to the place of contact between the same and the rear lap drum is effectually shut in or closed against the introduction of the hand.

Although my device is entirely effectual and absolutely safeguards the operator, it is so constructed and arranged that it auto matically swings away from the lap spool and the lap wound thereon when said spool is elevated for the purpose of removahin fact, the device is automatic in all of its operations or in assuming its several different positions, as will be hereinafter clearly explained.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

I attain the objects and secure the advan tages of my invention by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whtch-- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a practical form of my safety device showing the same applied to so much of a ribbon-lap machine as is necessary to the advantageous use of said device and for a full understanding of the construction and operation of the same, and, Fig. 2, a top plan of the parts and members shown in the preceding view.

In the first View the empty lap represented in its low position resting on the two lap drums, and the safet device is shown disposed in accordance with such position of said spool in full lines, while in dot-and-dash lines the parts are shown in their elevated positions as they appear when the full complement of lap has been wound on the spool and all is in readiness for said spool with its lap to be raised into position a little higher up than that shown by said dot-and-dash lines for the pur ose of enabling said spool and lap to e removed from the machine.

The old parts of the ribbon-lap machine herein shown comprise the front end portion of a trough or guide 1 for the lap, which lap appears at 2 in the first view, a air of lap drums 3, the upper terminal portions of two racks 4 provided at the top with bearings 55 for a lap spool arbor 6, all of usual and well-known construction. The lap drums 3 are fluted as usual. A lap spool is represented at 7 on the arbor 6. At 88 appear the the trough 1 above the rear lap drum 3 tothe bottom of the lap spool 7 upon which said lap is wound, and it is while the lap is being started on the spool and while it is being wound thereon that the accidents hereinbefore mentioned occur. At the start the spool 7 rests on both lap drums and the lap 2 passes between said drums and said spool, the latter being rotated by the former. Although the lap is very light and fleecy as it accumulates on the spool between said spool and the drums 3, said spool together with the racks 4 are elevated and the parts moved upward until the required amount of spool is lap has been wound on the spool, when the removed from the machine; An empty spool is then placed in the machine and the arbor 6 again inserted in place, after which the parts are lowered so as to permit the empty spool to rest on the drums 3 and the machine is started, but not, of course, until the lap has been properly connected with said spool.

Passing now to the safety device, it will be observed that the same, in the embodiment thereof as herein illustrated, comprises a horizontal plate 10 rigidly attached at its rear end to a rock shaft 11 which is mounted in the upper terminals of two brackets 12, the latter being securely fastened to the sides of the trough'l adjacent to the front edge thereof. In addition to these parts there is an arm 13 rigidly attached at one end to one terminal of the shaft 11 and an arm 14 having its frontend rigidly attached to the bearing 5 which is on the" same side of the machine with said arm 13. There is ahorizontal slot 15 in the arm 14, and the lower forward end of the arm 13 is pivoted at 16 to this slotted portion of said arm 14, the pivot 16 passing through antlworking freely in said slot. The parts are so pro portioned and, arranged that the plate 10 is retained by the arms 14 and 13 and the shaft 11 with its front or free edge approximately over the longitudinal center of the lap spool 7 and only a little distance above the top of said spool, consequently the space behind the spool and above the rear lap drum 3 is closed by said plate so that it is impossible for the operator to introduce her hand into such space. Furthermore, by this same arrangement and construction, as the racks 4 rise with the spool 7 by reason of the accumulation of the lap on said spool and between it and the drums 3, the plate 10 swings upwardly ahead of the accumulating lap on the spool, but always maintains or is maintained with its front edgeclose enough to such accumulation of lap as to prevent the introduction of the hand into the place of danger. The plate 10 is thus swung upwardly by reason of the fact that the rising arm 14 swings the arm 13 upwardly and so rocks the shaft 11 and carries with it said plate. As the arm 14 rises the pivot 16 moves forward in the slot 15, and, con-i trariwise, when said arm descends said pivot spool 7. After the machine is started, it

being assumed that the front end of the has been Wrapped about the spool 7, the

winding operation continues, and both the spool-supporting members and the guard plate 10 are carried up by the increasing thickness of lap between the revolving members until the spool is full and the automatic stopping of the machine takes place. All this time the guard plate 10 has been in. position to safeguard the operator. The parts are now disposed as represented by the dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 1. Next the racks t are elevated a short distance or a sufficient distance to enable the full spool to be taken out from between the front drum' 3 and the plate 10 after the arbor 6 has been. removed, the plate 10 having been carried up still higher by the further upward movement of said racks, so that said plate is well out of the way of the operator when she places the empty spool in the machine,

, which she proceeds to do after removing the full spool, and wraps the freshly severed end of the lap 2 about said empty spool. The spool 7 is now ready' to be lowered into operative position, and this the operator immediately pr'oceeds'to'do, and by the very act of lowering the spool into such position aiitm'ery close tothe latter for the purpose alfchd y fully explained. The "machine is lap causes the guard plate 10 to descend into pdsi'tionbetween the trough l and the spool now started and the operations hereinbefore described repeated.

Although the spool 7 in its low position has been designated as an empty spool, it is to be understood that in a machine equipped with my safety device, the spool 7 is never quite empty because it isnecessary that the la be started thereon or connected therewith While the spool is in its most elevated position and before it can ever be lowered ontothe drums 3. It should be observed further that the machine is always idle when the spool is-in its most elevated position, or in a position where it is accessible for the purpose of connecting the lap therewith or adjusting it thereonat all other times, or at such times as the machine is in operation, said plate is in operative position orin position to prevent accident.

Numerous changes in the shapeQsize, construction, and arrangement of some or all of the parts of my device, as herein illustrated, may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

to secure by Letters invention, and desire atent, is-- 1; The combination with contacting rotary feeding members, of means adapted to close the entrance to the space between said membels at the place where they revolve toward each other, such means consisting in part of a plate arranged with its front edge approximately over the longitudinal center 0 the intermediate feeding member at all times.

2. The combination with contacting rotary feeding members adapted to wind materlal onto one of such members, of means to close the entrance to the space adjacent What I claim as In;

to the place where the material enters be-- tween said members, such means consisting in part of a plate arranged with its front edge approximately over the longitudinal center of'the intermediate feeding member atall times.

3. The combination with contactin rotar feeding members adapted to win material onto one of such members and to be separated as such material accumulates on the member upon which it is wound, -of means to close the space adjacent to the -place where said material enters to be wound, such means including a plate arranged with its 'front edge ap roximatel over the longitudinal center of the wind in member at all times, and means to cause said plate to move away from the material as it accumulates on the, member upon which it is wound.

4. The combination, in a lap machine, with lap drums, supporting means for a lap spool, and a-1ap spool, of a pivotallymounted guard member arran d with its free edge adjacent to said spoo and across the entrance to the space where the lap en- 1,oee,111

ters between said s 001 and said drums to be wound on the ormer, the arrangement bein such that the front edge of said guard mem er is at all times approximately over the longitudinal center of said lap spool,

5. The combination, in a lap machlne,

with lap drums, reciprocating supportingmeans for a lap spool, and a lap spool, of a pivotally-mounted guard member arranged with its free edge adjacent to said s 001 and across the entrance to the space w are the lap enters between said spool and said drums to in wound on the former, and means attached to said reciprocating means and operatively connected with said guard member whereby said guard member is caused to move away from said spool as the material wound thereon accumulates, the

arrangement being such that the front edge of said guard member 'is at all times approximately over the longitudinal center of said lap spool. V

6. The combination, in a lap machine,

with a lap guide, lap drums, a lap spool, and reciprocating acks to form bearings ai d spool, of a rack-shaft supported fromis d guide, a guard plate said rock-shaft and extending into a p'sition adjacent to said spool, an arm rigidly connected with one of said racks, and a'second arm rigidly attached tosa-id rock-shaft. and o eratively connected with said first-mentione arm, the arrangement of parts being. such that said plate moves away frpm said spool as the latter rises. i

ANDREW W. BELL.

Witnesses: F. A. Curran, J. D. BELL.

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